Chapter 1

My blood felt like it froze in an instant, my heart ripped open by wolf claws, torn again and again without mercy.

An Omega of status too low?

A lover who couldn’t be seen in the light?

Those words echoed in my ears, every syllable striking the softest, most vulnerable part of my heart with surgical precision.

Three years ago, because of an internal Alpha succession war, I was forced to hide my true bloodline and flee as nothing more than an ordinary Omega.

No surname. No Pack. Nothing left but a wolf nature crushed so tightly it was hard to breathe.

Until that accident.

On the wastelands, I saved a heavily injured, dying Alpha of the Blood Moon Pack—Henry.

Every wolf knew his name.

Cold-blooded. Dominant. Ruthless.

That was how he was forged.

Yet after he recovered, that very man knelt before me himself, swearing to the Moon Goddess that I would be his mate.

He chased me with near-mad obsession.

I once casually mentioned missing the Lucky candies I ate as a child. He bought the entire production line outright and sealed it with an Alpha blood oath, just so that flavor would belong to me alone.

I said I wanted to see a meteor shower. He chartered a private route overnight, rushed back from a border battlefield to North America, just to stand beneath the same night sky with me and make a wish to the Moon Goddess.

Even when I was kidnapped by a rival Pack, my wolf bones sealed in silver chains—

Henry didn’t bring an army.

He came alone. He offered his own life in exchange for mine.

All he asked was that I walk away alive.

In the end, the old Alpha and Luna of the Blood Moon Pack relented and agreed to our union.

That night, he took ninety-nine lashes of silver punishment in the ancestral hall.

Blood soaked through his back, yet he still lowered his head to kiss me, his voice hoarse and trembling: “Jenifer, I don’t care what your identity is. I don’t care if you’re an Omega or—”

“As long as you’re willing, I can take punishment for you for the rest of my life.”

Looking back now, it’s almost laughable how cruelly ironic it all was.

Someone hesitated before speaking up: “But if Jenifer ever finds out… that the three days you’re punished every month are actually spent back at the old House, with Isabella and those twin pups…”

The air froze solid.

Henry pressed his lips together. His Alpha aura crushed down coldly as his voice turned firm and merciless.

“She won’t leave me. Even if she knows, she won’t have the heart to.”

In that moment, my world collapsed completely.

It felt like quiet laughter buzzed in my ears, pain ripping through my limbs until they trembled.

I’d grown up watching Pack infighting and bloodline purges. I’d never believed in the so-called mate bond.

But Henry spent three full years grinding down my last bit of caution, piece by piece.

When my wolf nature spiraled out of control, he’d hold me down with red-rimmed eyes, suppressing the madness in my blood.

When the elders forced me to kneel into oath circles drawn with salt and silver powder, he’d pull me out and kneel in my place.

He’d cup my face before the Moon Goddess’s statue and whisper: “Jenifer, one day, you’ll be the only Luna they acknowledge.”

But when the truth was finally torn open, I realized he had already completed a mate ceremony with another woman. He’d even produced heirs.

And I was nothing more than a lover hidden in the shadows.

My mind exploded in a dull buzz.

Not anger but clarity.

I didn’t even have the strength to question him.

I just wanted to run.

The night wind sliced into my ears like knives as I ran faster and faster, my wolf form nearly breaking free.

I slipped. My knee slammed hard into gravel. Flesh split open, and the scent of blood spread rapidly through the air.

The pain made me shake.

But my chest hurt more.

Every time I’d been injured before, Henry would gently pull me into his arms, whispering over and over: “Don’t be afraid. I’m here.”

But now?

Was he with a pup?

Or with his legal Luna?

My stomach churned violently. I covered my mouth and dry-heaved as my communicator vibrated.

It was Beta Eric from the old estate.

His voice was still respectful, restrained. “Jenifer, the family and the elders have reached an agreement. In half a month, a formal blood-recognition ceremony will be held for you—to restore your lineage.”

My fingers were ice-cold, but I wiped my tears away bit by bit, my voice calm.

“Alright. I’ll make every Pack recognize me again.”

Eric acknowledged, hesitated, then added quietly: “Also, Jenifer, happy twenty-fifth birthday.”

I cut the connection and opened Henry’s message thread.

Blank.

So this was my first birthday gift at twenty-five, a lesson personally delivered by my mate: Never give your heart to a lying wolf.

I smiled, uglier than tears, and dragged my unsteady steps back to that so-called “home.”

The lights came on.

Designer gift boxes everywhere. Wolf delicacies. Candlelight flickering harshly atop a birthday cake.

The next second, an arm wrapped around my waist from behind.

Henry leaned close to my ear, his voice low and smiling.

“Jenifer, happy birthday. Make a wish.”

But I smelled milk.

The soft, unmistakable scent of a pup.

My stomach flipped violently.

I stared at him and heard my own voice go light: “You weren’t punished today? The silver wounds on your body…”

He stiffened for a split second, then relaxed smoothly.

“The old House was in a good mood. Punishment was waived today. Don’t think about it and make your wish.”

“This is the third birthday I’ve spent with you. There’ll be countless more in the future.”

He said it so naturally.

So confidently.

And all I felt was cold seeping up my spine, threatening to drown me.

I bent down and blew out the candles.

In the instant darkness fell, I swore to the Moon Goddess, word by word, in my heart—

Henry, you are not worthy of being my mate.

I will personally make you pay for every single day you lied to me.